New Delhi: The Union Government has planned big for the propagation of natural farming and aimed to facilitate one crore farmers to adopt natural farming in the next three years.
Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman, in her Union Budget 2023-24 announced that over the next 3 years, the Union Government will facilitate one crore farmers to adopt natural farming.
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For this, 10,000 Bio-Input Resource Centres will be set up, creating a national-level distributed micro-fertilizer and pesticide manufacturing network.
Agriculture Accelerator Fund
The FM announced to set up of an Agriculture Accelerator Fund to encourage agri-startups by young entrepreneurs in rural areas, which will aim at bringing innovative and affordable solutions for challenges faced by farmers. It will also bring in modern technologies to transform agricultural practices, increase productivity and profitability.
Atmanirbhar Horticulture Clean Plant Programme
Nirmala Sitharaman announced to launch of an Atmanirbhar Clean Plant Programme to boost the availability of disease-free, quality planting material for high-value horticultural crops at an outlay of Rs 2,200 crore.
Digital Public Infrastructure for Agriculture
The finance minister said that the Digital Public infrastructure for agriculture will be built as an open source, open standard and interoperable public good. She said, this will enable inclusive, farmer-centric solutions through relevant information services for crop planning and health, improved access to farm inputs, credit, and insurance, help for crop estimation, market intelligence, and support for the growth of agri-tech industry and start-ups.
